And Then They Are All Mine

Here is a Sodom that parents often don’t hesitate to send their children to – alone. The below are professor’s quotes from Al Mohler’s article. Better read this if you have children approaching college age.

“We need to encourage everyone to be in college for as many years as they possibly can,” this professor wrote, “in the hope that somewhere along the line they might get some exposure to the world outside their town, and to moral ideas not exclusively derived from their parents’ religion. If they don’t get this in college, they’re not going to get it anywhere else.”

…

“The children of red states will seek a higher education,” he explains, “and that education will very often happen in blue states or blue islands in red states. For the foreseeable future, loyal dittoheads will continue to drop off their children at the dorms. After a teary-eyed hug, Mom and Dad will drive their SUV off toward the nearest gas station, leaving their beloved progeny behind.”

BTW, Terry, that’s not extreme. One of the incoming college freshmen at our church WANTS to live at home, because of the hard time her sister had living in the dorms. Very pro-gay agenda nowadays in colleges, obviously. It makes some kids miserable.

Actually, I think the Lord is clear that we as believers are to never be on our own for long periods of time. We are created for relationships for a reason. Accountability is very important for us, otherwise we tend to fall into sin more easily. College is not designed for accountability. Even having roommates typically does not give much accountability. Parents have often been surprised to find a child hasn’t been to classes all semester or that the child that is supposed to be in a roommate arraignment is actually living with another of the opposite sex.

I think your daughters will benefit from being able to focus on college and not worry about dorms, apartments, roommates, etc. Daughters still need their mothers, often more than they realize. 🙂

All teaching involves ideology and intellectual commitments. There is no position of authentic objectivity. Every teacher, as well as every student, comes into the classroom with certain intellectual commitments. Some professors set as their aim the indoctrination of students into their own worldview, and many of these worldviews are both noxious and deeply troubling…

Bingo. He hit the nail on the head right there. This is not new information to me, or my husband; but I think many, many pareents are extremely naive about just how non (or rather anti-) Christian academia has become. However, the kids are primed early: now the socialist indoctrination starts much, much earlier – shades of it are introduced in the lower grades, in the form of revisionist history and “sensitivity training”, with hard-core ideology being shoved down their throats by middle school. My husband and I have 4 kids in public school, and we have no illusions. We have had MANY protracted “discussions” with teachers, to no avail – the law is on their side. Going the homeschool route (as most in our church do) is not an option for us, but since we spend so much time un-doing the school’s ideological programming (as well as supplementing their education, as the curriculum is woefully inadequate), I ordered A Beka social studies, literature, math and science books last year and we did them in addition to the school. It’s important to do this – esp. in history and literature – as that’s where the ideology shows up most.

Our church seems to feed into Liberty University. It’s obvious why – there are precious few truly Christian universities left! It scares me to think what the colleges can do to twist our kids’ thinking, but my husband and I have come to the following conclusion: if we do our job as parents (train them up spiritually), at some point we need to just trust God when they go out from under our roof. Of course, I believe we should do what we can to increase their odds — a school that is Christian, but as my husband pointed out, wherever they are, they will be able to stay close to God and find other Christians.

Because they have dual citizenship, my husband thinks it would be a good idea for the kids to be educated in Europe. However, Europe is the furthest thing from a “Christian society” that exists. That’s where the “trusting God” comes in. The paragraph I quoted above from Mohler’s article describes, exactly, the educational system my husband was raised in, behing the Iron Curtain. In Communist Bulgaria, the agenda in the schools was purposely atheist. He was also raised in an atheist, commie family. And yet he is now a Christian.

I went to Syracuse University – the #1 party school in the nation at the time – and got saved there. (Campus Crusade). So God can move, protect, save….but we just have to do our jobs as parents. Still, it is highly disturbing seeing the way the educational system is deliberately poisoning the minds of our kids. Tells you where we’re headed.

You point out something that many people seem to miss or gloss over – the fact that every teacher has some agenda. It may be very innocent such as teaching to read well. Or it may be “opening the eyes” of the children to different lifestyles. Even I as a homeschool parent teach with an agenda in mind. I at least know my agenda, but some teachers have never really sat down and thought out what their agenda is and even less parents have strived to find the teachers agenda. There is plenty of evidence from the PTA as to what their agenda is. 🙁

It is granted homeschooling, Christian schools, stay-at-home moms, solid churches, etc. will not guarantee that your children will become a believer. However, each item does add to the chances that they will develop a solid foundation from which to be launched forward into the world. Just as some of us who grew up with none of the above grew to be solid believers, which will not mean that everyone with the same experience will have the same outcome. The Lord will call whom He will call even if in spite of the upbringing or even due to it. We as parents can only be obedient to do our very best.

I am leery of the general “need” for college education in general. I understand that “higher education” is necessary and helpful for many jobs, but there are also many vocations where it is unnecessary and, therefore, somewhat a waste of money. Throw in the fact that most universities have very liberal agendas and that’s just a recipe for disaster.
Again, I’m in no way “anti-education”, I just question the real “need” for college that our society puts on us sometimes.

I understand your reasoning very well. While of course I would prefer my doctor to have a lengthy education that does not mean that every person needs a college education. One of the strangest statistics is that a majority who go to college, spending four plus years and thousands of dollars, end up not working in the field they went to school for. 🙁 All that money wasted. Oh, I know, I’ve heard the reasoning that college education gives students a well rounded education. But there is no reason that a high school education cannot do the same. Even more sad is the young couple with a baby where the wife must work to pay off the college debts for a degree she doesn’t want to use any longer.

If a college degree is desired or even required for a field there are often many, many ways to get one without the debt or the being sent to the liberal institutions.

I have to agree. First, I went to a difficult private high school, took a bunch of AP classes, and ended up getting my B.S. in 3 years instead of 4. I graduated from Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, witha Major in Print Journalism and a Minor in Spanish. (This was during the recession of ’92).

Well, Newhouse, along with Columbia, is one of the most prestigious schools in the nation for journalism…but what they never tell you is that you will NEVER be able to amke a living doing that unless you are very well connected. Not to mention most newspapers and independant magazines either went slowly out of business or were bought out by parent companies shortly thereafter.

Right after graduation, I moved to Bulgaria – short-term missions trip and ended up landing a job for an international business association. Four pretty decent years; I was a glorified secretary. I forgot all the Spanish I ever learned, but became fluent in Bulgarian. When my husband and I moved back here to start a family, I worked as….first an “administrative assistant”; then as a Bulgarian/English Interpreter – a career that has grown to this day. (FWIW, interpreters make better money than most journalists. But you don’t necessarily need a college degree, especially if it’s an “exotic” language like Bulgarian). 🙂

I learned far more in high school than in college. The most productive learning I’ve done (and am doing) is the courses I’m taking to become a certified biblical counselor. And guess what? NANC counselors do it for free. 🙂

Praise God my husband has several degrees – but engineers need college educations. I don’t think I’m dumb, but it’s a fact that what I am doing – both career-wise and ministry-wise – I could have accomplished without going to college.

(I’m still kinda glad I went, though. I met Jesus there).

He is sovereign. A piece of paper from a prestigious university doesn’t mean diddly-squat sometimes (and has no eternal value).

Many of the jobs today that “require” a college education could easily and maybe even better be learned through a good apprenticeship program, that is if the government didn’t get so involved in regulating everything. 🙁 It is sad how new college graduates still have trouble getting jobs because experience is required for so many positions. Four years of college does not translate necessarily into a person who can do the job well, that comes with time and experience.

In our area Spanish fluency will make getting any job easier. Police, Fire, Ambulance, Nursing, Mangers, etc. are all encouraged to take Spanish due to the number of Spanish speaking residents. Translators are going to continue to be needed in this global economy and immersion is the best way to learn, much better than book work. 🙂

First Things First

The most important fact necessary before reading this website is to examine yourself to see if you are a Christian. If you are not a Christian, much of this would be ‘Foolishness’ to you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1 Cor 2:14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you are not a Christian then I recommend reading the following:

What is a Berean?

Acts 17:11
"Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true." NIV

My Purpose

Comments

Please feel free to leave comments and you do not have to agree with me. But if you disagree please be kind enough to share the Scriptural reasons.

Great Books

Copyrighted Information

If I have in any way violated a copyright or not given appropriate credit to an author please forgive me. It was done innocently and in ignorance. Contact me if there is a problem and I will be glad to remove or edit it as desired.